IN DEADLY PERIL
The Radio Boys looked at each other in anxious surmise.
“Seems to be something serious,” remarked Bob.
“That explains the tramping I heard last night,” said Joe. “I
remember being waked up two or three times. Once I was tempted to
get up to see what the matter was, but I dropped off again before I
did it.”
The anxiety they were under made them hurry through their meal more
quickly than usual, and they were soon at the door of the captain’s
cabin.
The commander looked up with a troubled face, as, following their
knock and his bidding them come in, they entered the room.
“I’m in something of a dilemma,” he began, without any
preliminaries, when they had seated themselves. “A sudden sickness
has come upon many members of the crew and the petty officers. The
doctor diagnoses it as ptomaine poisoning, due to some defective
canned goods that the steward served yesterday. I see, however, that
you haven’t been affected, judging from appearances.”
“I feel fine,” replied Bob.
“If I felt any better I’d be afraid of myself,” said Joe.
Jimmy and Herb confirmed their comrades, and a look of relief came
into the captain’s face.
“That’s a bit of luck,” he said, “for the ship’s especially in need
of just the kind of service you boys are best qualified to render.”
“You mean in the wireless room?” asked Bob, eagerly.
“Just that,” replied the captain. “While others in the ship are ill,
there are plenty of men to take their places. But the radio room is
the heart of the ship, and it’s just there that the blow has hit us
hardest. Johnson and Marston have been taken pretty badly, and while
there’s no danger of any fatal ending, Dr. Fisher says it will be
several days before either of them will be fit for duty. There are
some other men in the crew that have a smattering of radio
knowledge, but none of them measures up to you young fellows in that
particular.”
“You can count on us, Captain!” exclaimed Bob, earnestly.
“We’ll be there with both feet,” declared Joe, more emphatically
than elegantly.
“We’ll work day and night,” promised Jimmy, his round face beaming.
“And we’ll stay on the job till the cows come home,” added Herb,
with an energy surprising in him.
The captain smiled his gratification.
“I had no doubt of your good will,” he said. “And equally I have no
doubt of your ability. I have just come from a talk with Johnson,
and he says that for some days past you have been practising the
sending and receiving and have become thoroughly familiar with the
ship’s routine. Of course, in case of any great or unexpected
emergency, you can consult him or Marston. Maxwell, the third man,
is not very seriously affected, and he’ll be with you part of the
time and attend to the maps and the making out of the daily reports.
But the actual work of running the wireless end of it will be up to
you, and I’m satisfied it will be in good hands. You can arrange
your shifts to suit yourselves, as long as one of you is constantly
at the key.”
“We’re glad you trust us so fully,” said Bob, as spokesman for all
of them, “and you can depend on us to put all our thought and
strength into the work.”
“Fine!” declared the captain. “You can start at once. Maxwell is in
there now, and you can take the work over from him, and leave him
free to attend to his maps and charts.”
The Radio Boys left the captain’s cabin with a deep sense of
responsibility, and yet with a keen feeling of elation. Here was a
chance to win their spurs, to show what they could do, to justify
the captain’s faith in them, and all of them were determined that he
should not be disappointed.
They arranged their shifts, and, as it was desirable that two of
them should always be on hand, they planned to work in two couples.
Bob and Joe, as the oldest and the most experienced in radio work,
were the captains of the shifts. Bob was to work with Jimmy, and Joe
with Herb, with Maxwell on hand a good deal of the time to fill in
as extra man, in case of emergency.
The first day was naturally the most trying one. Each felt a certain
amount of nervousness at the start that interfered with his doing
his best work. But this wore off as all gained confidence in
themselves and familiarity with the instruments, and by the third
day, they were managing the wireless room almost like veterans.
On the third day, a large fleet of icebergs was sighted, and the
boys were kept on the jump in reporting their position to vessels in
the steamer lanes. They had to keep a vigilant eye and responsive
ear also on the iceberg alarm, which again and again warned them of
the dangerous proximity of bergs.
In the afternoon their work was more than doubled, for a gray, heavy
fog settled down over the sea. It grew denser as the hours went by,
until the ship’s bow could not be seen from the stern.
A feeling of intense anxiety pervaded the ship. All of the officers
wore grave faces, as they paced the decks and gazed out into the
dank fog that had a grisly resemblance to a winding sheet. All the
crew had been summoned to duty, even the shift below having had to
tumble from their berths.
The powerful searchlights had been turned on, and swept the sea in
all directions. But even their dazzling brilliance could not carry
far in a fog like that. Occasionally, through a momentary rift, the
great spectral shape of a berg could be seen drifting by.
The engines had been slowed down, and the _Meteor_, with barely
enough motion for steerageway, crept along like a blind man, groping
for the right path. She was in danger, and every soul on board knew
it. Even Hector, with that strange instinct given to animals, felt
that some peril impended, and sat in a corner of the wireless room,
whimpering.
It was the shift of Bob and Jimmy, but Joe and Herb were with them,
as they felt too uneasy to go to their berths, and wanted to be on
hand in case of emergency.
The faces of the Radio Boys were tense with anxiety, as they noted
the signals given by the iceberg alarm. For now it was giving
warnings from all sides. Had the echoes come from one direction, the
problem would have been simple, as the _Meteor_ could have sheered
off on an opposite course. But how to sheer off, when there was
equal danger in front and astern, on the port and starboard sides?
The moment came when there was no use blinking the fact. Despite the
most clever seamanship, the most adroit dodging and shifting, the
most instant compliance with the reports from the wireless room, the
gallant ship was in the very midst of the iceberg fleet. The giant
hand of the ice king was closing upon her.
Then, suddenly, there came a tremendous crash, and the ship shivered
from stem to stern.